Lavey Craft 21XTSKI

[stevesdcb]

Ok, so I have had this boat a few weeks now, have had it out a few times, both here locally on our lake and out in Havasu. I have been lacking in confidence during higher speeds or quick acceleration, it seems to me that the back end "breaks loose", almost like a loose feeling in the rear possible chine walk, but not sure, it just feels like any slight movement of the steering wheel and the boat wants to quickly change direction.

It got me thinking about this comment from @RiverDave and the battery weight in the back, could this be the issue?

Also, trimming the drive up creates a lot of porpoise, which I can fix with the trim tabs, but that seems like defeating the purpose to get the boat up with the drive then burying it with the tabs???

I dont know, maybe its just been too long since I driven a "performance" boat, last boat was the Galaxie, before that a pontoon, before that was a Calabria ski boat. Am I just being a pu$$y?

View attachment 1046939

Subscribed, a stepped 21 XCS hard deck is on my list. Thanks for posting.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

Ok, so I have had this boat a few weeks now, have had it out a few times, both here locally on our lake and out in Havasu. I have been lacking in confidence during higher speeds or quick acceleration, it seems to me that the back end "breaks loose", almost like a loose feeling in the rear possible chine walk, but not sure, it just feels like any slight movement of the steering wheel and the boat wants to quickly change direction.

It got me thinking about this comment from @RiverDave and the battery weight in the back, could this be the issue?

Also, trimming the drive up creates a lot of porpoise, which I can fix with the trim tabs, but that seems like defeating the purpose to get the boat up with the drive then burying it with the tabs???

I dont know, maybe its just been too long since I driven a "performance" boat, last boat was the Galaxie, before that a pontoon, before that was a Calabria ski boat. Am I just being a pu$$y?

View attachment 1046939

Do you have much spray coming off the prop at speed? I went back and looked at your pictures and I see there is a nose cone on your lower unit., or its an aftermarket lower. Leads me to believe the X dimension may be a higher on this boat causing that "loose" feeling, or, if the lower is buried that longer torpedo with the nose cone could be causing excess leverage while running causing the boat to be too trim sensitive which is exacerbated on your set-of-the-pants meter due to being out of a performance boat for so long. Really Im just guessing here.

Boat looks killer on the water though.

 

[Badchoices03]

Sounds like your experience is quite the opposite of what I remember. Are you typically trimmed all the way down? Could this be creating a bow steer situation? As soon as i got on plane I would trim up to the first line on the trim gauge.

Boat planes almost immediately with drive trimmed all the way down, once planed and I start trimming the drive up just a bit, it starts getting that loose feeling

 

[LazyLavey]

As soon as i got on plane I would trim up to the first line on the trim gauge.

^^^^. This for sure...

My experience has been the boat can be sensitive to trim and act erratic when up on plane and trimmed down...usually feel it at lower - medium speeds... which is my primary speeds due the wife freaks if exceed 50...

Also when weight is unevenly distributed side to side or front to rear.. whether it's passenger weight or one fuel tank is much lower than the other. If the bow has passengers I find myself adjusting the tabs to level out.

My uneducated guess is weight in the front makes the hull ride wet forward in the V and not utilizing the steps and riding on the pad, causing the hull to tilt to one side.....

I believe you'll get it dialed in as you use it more..

 

[LazyLavey]

Subscribed, a stepped 21 XCS hard deck is on my list. Thanks for posting.

The XCS is a different animal. Good friend has one and experiences none of my issues. the hull definitely rides aft taking advantage of the steps and the pad

 

[Badchoices03]

Do you have much spray coming off the prop at speed? I went back and looked at your pictures and I see there is a nose cone on your lower unit., or its an aftermarket lower. Leads me to believe the X dimension may be a higher on this boat causing that "loose" feeling, or, if the lower is buried that longer torpedo with the nose cone could be causing excess leverage while running causing the boat to be too trim sensitive which is exacerbated on your set-of-the-pants meter due to being out of a performance boat for so long. Really Im just guessing here.

Boat looks killer on the water though.

Yes, the boat has a -2 Imco lower, which was supposedly set up by Lavey Craft, so I would guess it was done with some thought process behind it.

Thanks for the compliment!

 

[LazyLavey]

Boat planes almost immediately with drive trimmed all the way down, once planed and I start trimming the drive up just a bit, it starts getting that loose feeling

Prop? .......

just a guess... as Flying said, the -2" may be causing the effect.

based on your experiences, take my previous post with a grain of salt...I'm all stock B-1

 

[Badchoices03]

Prop?

To be honest with you, not sure? The prop has no markings on it, unless its on the inner hub where I cant see unless I take the prop off.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

Yes, the boat has a -2 Imco lower, which was supposedly set up by Lavey Craft, so I would guess it was done with some thought process behind it.

Thanks for the compliment!

Hmm... Sounds like it was set-up with higher speeds in mind. the -2 lower COULD be to help carry the weight of the open bow more. Possibly. The boat could also be trying to get up onto the pad at a lower trim with that lower unit in it? Push those sticks more to see if it gets past that point? If its not rocking side to side (chine walking) I'd go for it. But thats just me.

What speeds are you getting that wandering feeling at?

 

[Badchoices03]

It doesn’t feel like it’s rocking side to side, more like it’s sliding around in the back.

Happens in the 35-50 areas, I have not really pushed it past that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[highvoltagehands]

I had a 2005 21XTSki built w/ 496 mag and no tabs. It never proposed or chined that I remember. We we were negotiating price, I specifically asked Jeff if i should add tabs. He said nope, it doesn’t need them. That 21 ate some serious Tahoe chop over a couple of years and nothing ever came loose or rattled afterwards. Bullet Proof.

 

[JMJay]

My 1996 LaveyCraft XTC Ski is stepped-v. Perfect condition. Gorgeous. Merc 350 stern. It's been stored in garage for many years and hardly ever taken out. Only about 200 hours over the years - on Lake Tahoe. LaveyCraft built it exactly as I ordered it in 1996. I am original owner, and I am happy to sell it for any reasonable price.

 

[RiverDave]

JMJAY, we have a classifieds section, as well I own a listing site called. www.TheToySyndicate.com you can use code RDP2022 and it is free to list at checkout.

RD

 

[Riverryder]

My 1996 LaveyCraft XTC Ski is stepped-v. Perfect condition. Gorgeous. Merc 350 stern. It's been stored in garage for many years and hardly ever taken out. Only about 200 hours over the years - on Lake Tahoe. LaveyCraft built it exactly as I ordered it in 1996. I am original owner, and I am happy to sell it for any reasonable price. View attachment 1101623

Dam! Nice boat!
@East Wood did you ever get a boat?

 

[attitude]

My 1996 LaveyCraft XTC Ski is stepped-v. Perfect condition. Gorgeous. Merc 350 stern. It's been stored in garage for many years and hardly ever taken out. Only about 200 hours over the years - on Lake Tahoe. LaveyCraft built it exactly as I ordered it in 1996. I am original owner, and I am happy to sell it for any reasonable price. View attachment 1101623

Hi JMJay,
Could you send me your contact info?

 

[Badchoices03]

My Lavey 21XtSki will be up for sale soon, its been sitting all winter, so I want to get it serviced and cleaned up before I really list it....stay tuned if anyone is interested..want to get about $30k

 

[BIGRED9158]

My Lavey 21XtSki will be up for sale soon, its been sitting all winter, so I want to get it serviced and cleaned up before I really list it....stay tuned if anyone is interested..want to get about $30k

What why? what’s next a poontoon lol ?

 

[Badchoices03]

What why? what’s next a poontoon lol ?

Possibly....not sure really....to be honest we figured out that my wife just doesn't like to go fast on water...not that this boat is rocketship, but in order for it to get up outta the water and ride good, you need to be in the top of the top portion of the throttle....its fine for me, but I am tired of the screams and the side eye...so not sure what direction I want to go...

Also, my son is not much of a boater, he loves being in the water and playing on the water...but doesn't really care for the "boating" part of it...so we can do that with a shitty pontoon if need be...he rather be on his dirtbike or mountain bike, camping and stuff...so we might focus on that instead...

Who knows? LOL

It's a great boat, but just need to do something different